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reddeadreference · 1 year

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Blackwater Ledger No. 74

-Click here to return to the index for Newspapers-

This issue is available after completion of the mission: Uncle’s Bad Day

(All article transcripts below the cut)

Articles marked with * are exclusive to this region’s issue.

Articles marked with ** are only there upon completion of the related mission.

Bureau of Investigation Founded

SECRET SERVICE VETERANS JOIN STAFF. PROMISE TO ROOT OUT ORGANIZED CRIME.

The Attorney General has formed an autonomous investigative agency to be headed up by veteran law enforcement officer Edgar Ross in an attempt to track high profile and dangerous criminals. The Bureau will also be tasked with investigating financial fraud and other organized crimes.

Ross served for many years as a senior agent with the Pinkerton Detective Agency under the mentorship of the late Andrew Milton and then went on to work at the National Bureau of Criminal Identification, founded by the National Chiefs of Police Union in 1896, which was tasked to record information on criminals and gangs and work with law enforcement. He has been billed as one of the most humble, innovative and honest law enforcement officers of his class, and colleagues say that Ross produces results where others fail. Upon swearing in, he stated: "I want all criminals to know that here in America, everyone will eventually pay for what they have done."

Unrest in the Tropics

COST OF FOOD, FUEL ANGERS CITIZENS. SUGAR BARONS TO BLAME.

Island residents from Barbados to Cuba are experiencing soaring prices and short supply of food and fuel. They are blaming local politicians and sugar barons for the situation. Shortly after the political unrest in the area, including the assassination of prominent sugar industry advocate and Guarman governor Alberto Fussar in 1899, American banking institutions, including JD McKnight and Co., took control of the sugar industry on several islands, including Barbados, the Virgin Islands, and Guarma.

Fields which once flourished with locally grown foods and were used to feed the island nation suddenly switched to growing sugar cane. As a result of a single crop economy, all foodstuffs are imported, to great expense for local peoples. Foreign investors hire locals to guard and police their massive plantations, subjecting workers to harsh conditions and penalties.

Local groups argue that island residents are suffering the most, while businesses say heavy investments by American financial institutions have allowed for the revitalization of the local economies.

'We Are Helpless'

TOWNS DECRY UNCHECKED VIOLENCE. OUTLAW GANGS RUNNING RAMPANT. LED BY NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL MICAH BELL.

A cacophony of outrage has been building at the lawlessness that prevails in towns across the area. Numerous outlaw gangs seem to operate unchecked or unstoppable by law enforcement, rendering terrified citizens helpless. The reward for the killing or capture of infamous outlaw Micah Bell and his gang was recently increased by government officials in response to the unanimous outcry from citizens that something must be done about this murderous gang of thieves and killers.

Mr. Bell and his associates continue their spree of killing and robbing while running roughshod over law enforcement. His acts of lawlessness rival that of Van der Linde himself. They pay no debts and dynamite banks and buildings as a recreational pastime. Bell has long been a suspect in the Blackwater Bank Robbery and Strawberry massacre back in 1899 and numerous train robberies that have ended in dismemberment or death of passengers in the years since then. Little is known of Mr. Bell's origins.

Reverend Swanson Leads NY Church

DELIVERS POWERFUL MESSAGE

Reverend Orville Swanson was inducted into his official capacity as minister at the First Congregational Church of New York this week, having moved to the city to accept the position. A service was held and then a reception was given to celebrate the appointment. Encouraging reports from attendees indicate that Reverend Swanson delivered an impassioned and heartfelt sermon about acknowledging sin and seeking redemption. He spoke about his own break from faith, a dark period when he could not attend church, falling into sin, depravity and wanton gluttony.

He chronicled the period where he rediscovered his faith and began witnessing on street-corners, to then become assistant pastor at a church in Ohio and now New York. During his recent attendance at the Convention Meeting of First Congregational Churches he delivered a very moving oration, impressing attendees as an eloquent and persuasive speaker, and was almost immediately offered the position.

Tallulah Jetty Gang Killed

BANK RAIDED IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. CITIZENS FORM POSSE.

United States Marshal Fulkerton received a dispatch from Silver Springs indicating that after years of evading capture, the Tallulah Jetty Gang was chased down after a brazen bank robbery in broad daylight. After a series of outrages, including the killing of several women and elders, officers placed 200 men in pursuit of the gang, which was overtaken near Anadarko.

A combination force of Cherokee Indians and a militia formed after the bank robbery pursued the gang to a cave in the bluffs south of the area, where a spectacular gun battle took place, killing several officers. After a period of quiet, one man entered the cave where he found a gravely wounded William Bishop bleeding out next to deceased henchmen Harold Sutton and James Shaw.

Liquor Smuggled Into Indian Territory

DEPUTIES PURSUE OUTLAWS, ONE KILLED.

A dispatch received from Comanche Indian territory yesterday says that Deputy United States Marshal Tidwell and another deputy attempted to arrest Cletus Yarnell and Lawrence Branch for introducing intoxicating liquors into Indian Territory. The outlaws resisted arrest and a gun battle ensued, with Marshal Tidwell's horse being shot out from under him. The desperados fled into Indian territory and were pursued. Yarnell was mortally wounded, Branch was arrested.

Bubonic Plague in San Francisco

CITY STILL REELING AFTER EARTHQUAKE THAT KILLED 3,000.

After an earthquake that destroyed 80 percent of the city and killed over 3,000 people, the city of San Francisco now reports that a second epidemic of bubonic plague has broken out. It is believed the outbreak is due to the large number of rats in the area. Fleas from infected rats transmit the disease, resulting in fever symptoms, seizures, gangrene and necrosis of the extremities, along with, in many cases, death.

New Railroad Completed

A GRAND PROJECT OUR MANIFEST DESTINY

The final ties were laid and spikes driven through to complete the Central Union rail line stretching through New Hanover. Passengers will be able to bypass the Grizzlies, Rhodes, and Scarlett Meadows, drastically reducing travel time. Now with a direct line connecting Cornwall Kerosene and Tar and Saint Denis, freight and commuters will flow fast and freely.

The project came with complications, including controversy over missing workers' wages and a land dispute. Representatives from towns such as Van Horn Trading Post and Annesburg say the new line will result in the decline of their towns. Civic planners hail the railroad as a new dawning day in American progress and history.

The Art of Angling by Jeremy Gill

SOCKEYE SALMON.

Last year while fishing in the Alaskan territories, I soon discovered that a family of bears was fishing too, and one particularly angry Kodiak took exception to my overwhelming success of pulling dozens of Sockeye Salmon out of the water. I could not blame him; however, now his head sits sentry above my foyer with a salmon in its mouth, a testament to the hunter becoming the hunted.

In cold streams, and particularly in the Grizzlies, salmon will strike river lures and are possibly the best tasting fish you can bring home for supper. They are so plentiful you may take as many as you like with no consequence. Happy casting.

#rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 photo mode #rdr2 newspaper

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badbirdnews · 2 months

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In the face of a rising tide of chaos and lawlessness

it comes as no surprise that liberal cities are finally waking up to the harsh realities of their failed criminal justice reforms. The once idealistic notions of leniency and rehabilitation have crumbled under the weight of rampant crime, leaving these cities with no choice but to take drastic measures. It seems that the lure of political power and the upcoming elections have finally forced their hand, leading them to abandon their misguided principles in favor of tougher, more hardline approaches.

These cities, once hailed as beacons of progressive thinking, are now teetering on the edge of anarchy. Retail theft rings run rampant, brazenly stealing from hardworking businesses without fear of consequence. Open air drug markets have become the norm, turning once vibrant neighborhoods into havens for criminals and addicts. The very fabric of society is unraveling before our eyes, and it is high time that these cities acknowledge the failure of their previous policies.

But let us not be fooled by this sudden change of heart. It is clear that these tough-on-crime initiatives are nothing more than a desperate attempt to sway public opinion and secure votes in the upcoming elections. The true intentions behind these decisions are driven not by a genuine desire to protect the innocent, but rather by a cunning political strategy. These cities have abandoned their principles in favor of political expediency, using the fear and desperation of their citizens as mere pawns in their game.

As law enforcement experts watch this unsettling shift unfold, they can only shake their heads in disbelief. They knew all along that these liberal cities were playing a dangerous game with the lives and safety of their residents. Now, as the consequences of their ill-advised reforms come crashing down upon them, these cities are left with no choice but to backtrack and adopt tougher approaches. But we mustn’t forget the true motive behind these sudden changes – it is nothing more than a self-serving election ploy. If re-elected they will return to lawlessness and do it all again!

Paul T., Opinion Journalist and Editor of Bad Bird News

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vigilantetendencies · 3 years

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A Leg Up

Suggestive Themes

Jinhae was as civilian as civilians came on the surface. Dressed in a tattered black and pastel jacket with patches, dyed hair, and a rather flippant and loud attitude he was seen as another street punk just trying to make do in the less than law abiding town. When people looked past it...they might see more, though that hadn't yet happened. Not really.

People thought that lawless places like this, running rampant with criminals not of the villain variety, were a work of fiction. They saw Gotham city, for example, and were immediately given the impression that it was an amplified example of the situation those citizens, villains and heroes alike lived in. However, Jinhae could easily believe it to be real as he was living in it.

Today was just another reminder for him of what places like this did to people, abandoned by the people he called friends and, in some cases, family. In reality this town was made up of temporary things- Temporary fame, families, friends, heroes…

But Jinhae didn’t dwell. Never had, never would. Instead he took it upon himself to try and find a new group to surround himself with before something bad happened.

Because in this place being alone was almost certainly a death sentence.

When he entered the hero agency he couldn't say he was surprised to be met with hostility. Guns, powers, eyes- all directed on him. He held his hands up defensively, smiling.

“I’d like to offer my help,” he told them, but they were having none of it.

“Do you fly?”

“Have you worked with another agency before?"

"Do you have any intel on any villains?"

When he answered no he was turned away.

"We don't hire street rats," one hero told him sternly.

"We have an image to uphold, you know."

Jinhae took this rejection with surprising grace, wasting no time in continuing his search.

Hawthorn, the city's main villain, was surprised when he entered his home and felt that something was off. He left the bag of takeout he had picked up on the table as he walked past the dining room, walking down a hallway or two to come up to a built-on greenhouse. Thankfully nothing seemed damaged but in the center of his flowers and plants was a civilian.

"Oh! You're home." Jinhae stopped staring at the plant he'd been inspecting, getting to his feet.

"You have three seconds to get out of my home before I get my gun." Hawthorn itched his earlobe with a bored expression, grabbing Jinhae and shoving him toward the front door.

"But I have a proposition for you." Jinhae called over his shoulder, turning around and facing Hawthorn a few feet away.

"Whatever it is I don't want it-" Hawthorn stopped, Jinhae pulling a familiar looking device out of his pocket. Hawthorn patted his pants pocket, frowning hard. "My phone."

"Yeah, here." Jinhae tossed it back.

"So you're a thief, what's your point, kid? Over half this town steals to get by, you're not special."

"I got your phone off of you without you noticing. I could have walked out of here with your phone, then what would you have done?" Jinhae paused, feigning thought as he tapped his finger on his chin. "What if I bumped into a hero and had gotten their phone? All of their personal details at my finger tips…"

Hawthorn had to admit.

He was intrigued.

But he was also not one for dramatics.

"Do you have something for me or not?" He snapped.

"That depends, are you looking for a roommate and some villainy help?" Jinhae leaned against the wall, grinning widely. "I'm awesome for stealing items off of people, getting into just about anywhere without causing concern, and if you play for the other team then I could offer you some other services as well."

Hawthorn felt his ears grow warm, lips pressed into a line.

He forgot what it was like to live on the streets. It had been so long since he'd had the same desperation- ready to do quite literally anything to make a connection and stay off of the streets.

"You don't go anywhere near my bedroom and if you ever cross me I won't hesitate to drop you in the slums."

Jinhae smirked, pulling out three phones from his coat pockets to hand to Hawthorn.

"Just to be clear, I'm fully aware that you likely offered your services to the heroes first."

Jinhae rolled his eyes.

"Pfft, how else was I going to get leverage? You can't do anything in this town if you don't have a leg up on someone- sometimes literally." As he shoved the phones into Hawthorn's hands he winked up at him. "If you know what I mean."

#hero #villain #oc #writing #original character #hero x villain #prompts #hero prompt #superhero #character #civilian #hero x civilian #villain x civilian

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arcticdementor · 3 years

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I was talking to Sarah yesterday and I had a revelation I think is worth sharing.

Let’s begin at the beginning. About a month ago, Instapundit posted this.

Now, I’ve been thinking of the rise and fall of civilizations lately. I can’t think why it’s been on my mind. It’s a tale as old as time—a civilization emerges, establishes a new worthwhile order, the good things brought forth by said order soften up the people maintaining it, the softening turns to decadence, and the decadence gives way to the barbarians, who clean the slate. Where would you say things are lately?

…

In short—the federal government of the United States of America has become impotent at almost all good things.

Expanded out—There is no start to its talents. It cannot maintain its borders. Since the “election” it doesn’t even try. No surprise there. It cannot maintain friendly relationships with allies—as our recent screwing of Britain on our way out of Afghanistan shows. The “leader” of the “free world” could not be bothered to pick up the phone for our closest ally. Speaking of Afghanistan, it can’t win a war. It can’t even lose gracefully. In fact it fucked up leaving so badly some people are entertaining that it intended to fuck it up, because how the fuck does somebody above the age of six not notice that pulling the military out first and the civilians out second is not even a remotely workable strategy? Resulting in leaving millions of dollars of equipment—and—excuse me, what? Millions of dollars of dollars in the desert? Fantastic.

It makes self sabotaging and idiotic choices to stymie its own domestic oil industry, while accepting a pipeline not from Canada, but one that’s a joint Russian-German venture instead. Which means the problem, contrary to any environmentalist whining, isn’t the pipeline—it’s the pipeline with a friendly country. Big surprise— its only true interest in the environment lies in international agreements that hamstring us while doing nothing to China, the world’s largest polluter. It either can’t be trusted on energy production and the environment, or is trying to get it wrong.

It can’t manage its economy. What could have been a “V” shaped recovery has been turned into an “L” shaped one. What could be contributing? Paying people to do nothing? Rampant inflation? Meanwhile all the dumbasses running the country can think of is spending several billion more dollars that don’t exist. The country has infrastructure problems for a fact, but they’ll only acknowledge that to the extent of cynically plastering the word on an “infrastructure” bill which is in fact just a far Left wishlist that largely ignores actual infrastructure, in the hopes people will be dumb enough to support it because it has the right label.

And on.

What aptitudes does it have besides taking money, trampling civil liberties, and ignoring constitutional laws at gunpoint? News flash, dummies: We don’t need peaceful protestors incarcerated without a trial. We don’t need the weight of the federal government turned to the problem of violating states rights because Texas passed a law Biden doesn’t like. We need military egresses that look like they weren’t planned by Bozo the clown and an economic plan better than something China would design for us as an attempt to permanently sink the country. Is there anyone at all in DC who can provide that? If not, is there anything useful they can do? I’ll wait.

…

This is what decadence looks like. When the government stops even attempting competence because nothing and nobody that currently exists can replace or displace them so who cares about results? When comfort and plenty have become so common, been taken for granted for so long, that the question of utility or even basic sanity isn’t even distantly considered. When it’s assumed that self-harming policies that will obviously damage the country won’t really matter because nobody has ever known a world without America and fundamentally has no idea how the present day came to be. When the country’s most educated start chasing bizarre and unimaginably stupid ideas on economics that boil down to “inflation won’t happen if you double the monetary supply by printing money, if only you just believe hard enough”. In fact, when education stops being a means to greater insight, more useful abilities, and a better life, and becomes a cult devoted to the kind of idiocy that can survive only with strenuous censorship, the tenets of the cult being treated by the indoctrinated as a collection of sacred mysteries and deeply-thought paradoxes— while to those not similarly trained it is self-obviously a collection of contradictory and self-serving lies.

Verily, decadence is here. We can infer that what comes next is the barbarians. And we have options. Mexican illegals? A heady mixture of poverty-stricken Marxists who have never known a system that wasn’t corrupt, functionally lawless, and devoted to the tenets of voting oneself rich; and outright criminals with lives like “a demon’s resumé”? Perhaps radical Muslims? By sheer numbers worldwide they’re the most likely option. The Taliban just got a huge infusion of cash and a big boost in morale. In a few short days we’ll know whether they’ve arranged a thank you gift for Zho Bi-Xen and his kleptocrat marching band to commemorate his intended pull-out date. But even if, and God I hope, they have not, we can expect an uptick in terrorism and quite shortly. Or perhaps China? The Middle Kingdom would laugh at being called barbarians, but I call genocidal communists like I see them. Mao was morally three steps below a pig and Xi has enough power to aspire to greater depths. As is I wouldn’t dream of feeding a pig Mu Shu Xi due to the great risk of poisoning the pig.

But there is a barbarian group not considered. Us.

Hang on. Before you balk, listen. Look again at what these idiots are selling as the fruits of civilization. Defenses of pedophilia and urinals as art. And more, too—sterilization and disfigurement of teenagers in the form of sex changes. Black supremacy as a panacea to made up threats of white supremacy. Books nobody reads, movies nobody watches, paintings that exist only to launder money—even the ones not made by Hunter Biden.

What good person would not be proud to be considered a barbarian by these miserable, over-decorated Faberge people? I’d be mortified if they agreed with me! So they think I’m a sexist or a racist or whatever. Fine. They do not use these words to mean the same things I mean, so it’s a pointless argument, and they are now officially beneath my explaining myself to them. When the people who are calling me names are so morally opaque that the Taliban can make devastating critiques of them just by referencing the foundational works of their own gender studies programs, I’m done caring about the names. Fine. I’m what you think is a racist. I’m what you think is a sexist. But you think a lot of very stupid things, and as the curtain continues to draw back on the carnival of madness that’s been behind the scenes the entire time it’s occurring to me that what you think and reality overlap so seldom that the only time not to ignore you is when I can ridicule you. If that is your civilization, someone hand me a pointy horned helmet.

…

Yes, this is a moment of peril, but also opportunity. See in your country what every hostile group listed above sees in it—the makings of great civilization, along other, less stupid lines. All of it guarded by weak, fat, stupid people with no will and no self-belief. Take that mindset and go forth.

Get involved in your local systems. There is an old prayer for God to make ones enemies ridiculous. Congratulations to whomever was still praying it. Your prayers have been answered. Will you tell me that you cannot defeat these people? People who lose casual debates to terrorists not on principle but on basic facts?

…

You can’t reason with them so don’t bother. Recent events have made it clear you may as well try to talk sense into a three-day-old mackerel. Just confront them with their own stupidity so that people who see the inevitable video understand what this is about, and don’t feel that you are too good to shout them out of the room. You’re the barbarian, remember? Not like the nice civilized people with their gender-queer Tik-Tokers pushing vaccine propaganda. That means you’re excused from conversations with morons. Don’t bother trying to find common ground. Look at where they’re standing! Do you want to try to find the midpoint between that and reality? Silly. Pointless. Send them back to their walled online gardens to whine to their equally stupid friends about the barbarians.

Can we take it back from the ground up? I don’t know. But hey, it’s got to be worth a shot. Join the fun! Find some friends and locate a low-hanging political event to raid. When was the last time you went to a town hall for your town? Isn’t just a part of you curious to know whether your local county commissioner starts by declaring her pronouns? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see someone like that made very uncomfortable? You can make that happen. You can probably do it within the next month. Bring a few friends! Or a few dozen. Some of the people reading this probably were afraid to do that kind of thing for fear of losing their job. The Biden economy might have freed up some of your time. What have you got to lose now? More importantly, the way things are going, are you going to lose it anyway if things continue as they are? Think on it.

#thomas kendall #sarah a hoyt

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youknowme-iamyou-blog · 4 years

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Black Lives Murder

When I saw Nancy Pelosi leading these Democrats, pandering to the Black Lives Matter (BLM), wearing African Kente scarfs, kneeling in worship, I almost suffered an aneurysm. It was at that point I had to stop working and write this article.

Democrats will weaponize any incident for votes, preach victimhood, and demonize all police officers for the behavior of a few rouge cops. The more ignorant among us, drink their politically correct kool-aid and kneel to blacks for being white.

I was thinking of another title for this piece: “Dear White People, Stop Apologizing for Being White.” I never owned slaves and I haven’t done anything to suppress or hurt blacks, and I’m sure you haven’t either.

Let’s end this Democrat, BLM and Antifa charade by analyzing race in crime statistics.

Blacks are responsible for committing 90% of the interracial crimes between whites and blacks, despite blacks being only 13.4% of the population.

Table 14 shows that the majority of interracial violence is perpetrated by blacks.

If we start plugging the numbers in we find that blacks committed 547,948 violent crimes against whites. On the hand whites committed 59,777 violent crimes against blacks.

Statistically blacks are responsible for committing 90% of all the interracial crimes between whites and blacks in America.

Violent Crimes in General

We are not finished. We still can tease out another statistic from our table. Blacks are responsible for 22% of all violent crime in America, again only being 13.4% of the population. But that’s not a fair estimate. Most violent crime is being perpetrated by males. So we can use that information and say with a high degree of confidence that roughly 6% of the population, comprising of black males, are responsible for 22% of violent crime in America.

Homicides -Black on White & White on Black

The situation is similar for homicides.

Blacks killed 514 whites in 2018 Whites killed 234 blacks in 2018

Again, despite being only 13.4% of the population blacks are responsible for 69% of interracial homicides between whites and blacks.

Black on Black Homicides

Blacks killing blacks are 11 times greater (2600) than whites killing blacks (234). Yet, if you listen to the Mainstream Media (MSM), BLM and Antifa, whites killing blacks are running rampant in our country. Black children are afraid to return home from school for fear of being shot by a white policeman. What nonsense.

The fact that black on black homicides are 11 times greater than whites killing blacks are not reported because it can not be racially exploited, so it is not reported by the MSM, BLM or Antifa.

If you are white, you are statistically at greater risk for being killed while in police custody than if you’re black.

More whites are killed in police custody than blacks. If you are white you are 1.7 times more likely to be killed in police custody than a black.

Math used for chart in reference section.

George Floyd Riots

No one excuses the abuse of those police officers Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, J. Kueng and Thomas Lane. Who kept George Floyd on the ground while police officer Derek Chauvin leaned on his neck, killing him.

People are allowed to peacefully protest. However, the wrongful death of George Floyd does not give the right for protests to erupted into lawless rioting, looting, the beating and killing of innocent people. This criminal behavior is not for the memory of this man. I’ve seen the videos where BLM dragged people out of their cars and beat them up. What was their crime, being white?

The smiling faces of looters carrying their stolen goods certainly didn’t look to me like they were in mourning for George Floyd.

You are not absolved of your criminal behavior because of your supposedly “outrage” and skin color.

The mainstream media doesn’t portrays George Floyd, for the career criminal he was. I am not condoning the horrible treatment he received from police, and he certainly did not deserve to die in the manner he did. But let’s not eulogize him as a national hero.

The day Floyd was killed, he was high on fentanyl and according the medical examiner recent used methamphetamine. He has used a counterfeit 20.00 dollar bill to purchase goods, which is why the store owner called the police. He did not deserve to die the way he did. The police officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with his murder.

George Floyd did five stints in prison:

1998: 10 months in prison for thief with an firearm. 2002: 8 months for cocaine 2004: 10 months for cocaine 2005: 10 months for cocaine 2007: Home invasion. Held a firearm to a pregnant woman’s stomach while accomplices robbed and ransacked the place. He did 5 years for this crime. You can view a more detail account of his arrests here.

I’d venture to say that a non-racist person would look at this incident as a bad cop killing an innocent man.

While those trying to inflame racism, see a white cop killing a black man. The mainstream media, BLM and Antifa are trying to use this incident to paint all cops as racist. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Black Lives Matter only when the black life taken is by a white person.

Soft on Crime Democrats

The soft on crime Democrats allowed the rioting to continue in their cities across the country. Most notably in NYC and Minneapolis. Minneapolis is a city led by Democrats for over 50 years. Their Mayor Jacob Frey, had his police evacuate the Third Precinct station, giving it up to the rioters who burned it to the ground.

If In Trouble, Just Blame Trump, Scream & Shout

To pass the buck on the fail Democrat policies in Minnesota, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison proclaimed the outside agitators in Minneapolis’ riots were “white supremacists” Trump supporters.

This is the same Keith Ellison who in January 2018 tweeted a selfie of himself at a bookstore holding the book “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook” and wrote “I just found the book that strikes fear in the heart of @realDonaldTrump”

Sounds more Saul Alinski to me, but the point is, these Democrats are sympathizers and enablers for Antifa and BLM thugs and criminals to riot.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Mayor Rudy Giuliani said it best. While being interviewed on Fox new said, “Don’t Elect progressive Democrats if you want to be safe.”

Democrat Mayors Bill DeBlaiso (D) NYC and and Mayor Jacob Frey (D),Minneapolis allowed the BLM and Antifa thugs to riot, to destroy business and buildings, to assault innocent people in their cities. They are useless and cowardly and should resign.

BLM and Antifa Militarily Commandeer a Section of Seattle

Weak Democratic mayor of Seattle Washington Jenny Durkan, has allowed a six block section of Seattle to be commandeered by domestic terrorists; BLM and Antifa thugs. They have arm guards shaking down businesses for money in their newly formed “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone”

Fox News Tucker Carlson had a reporter Dan Springer, in the area, that reported, “Yeah, this is the third night of what can only be described as a complete takeover of a seven-block area of a Seattle neighborhood, and we don’t see a single police officer or city official anywhere,”

He also reported that the Seattle police relinquished control of the area, and I quote, “They did not say how cutting and running makes it safe here.”

Springer also read the BLM and Antifa demands, “abolish the Seattle Police Department and the court system, disarm all cops until they are all fired, and abolish youth jails.”

Another Mainstream Media Blackout

This is happening now and has been going on for days, do you see any of the mainstream media covering this? No. They are too busy reporting on “defunding the police”, and doing their best to make these radical protests and rioting appear reasonable.

Could you imagine if armed Trump supporters took control over seven blocks of Seattle Washington, chased the police out, starting shaking down businesses for money and goods, the MSM would lose their collective minds.

You can read the complete story here along with the radical demands from BLM and Antifa.

15 People Died in the Riots — I Have Questions

The riots are well coordinated and global. Why are there riots outside Minneapolis, Minnesota? How did protests and riots expand into other states? Why are there protests in Europe for an incident that happened in the United States? Who is funding all these protests? Who is organizing these riots? Why were pallets of bricks strategically placed where people would be rioting? There was no construction in the area. Who placed the bricks there? Why isn’t law enforcement looking into this? Who is funding and inciting this violence?

Conclusion

Despite the narrative of the mainstream media, BLM and Antifa, statistically, whites are more likely to be killed by the police than blacks. They take any incident to create a false narrative to promote their agenda.

A few rouge cops are not a reflection on all the police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Or a reflection of police in every police department, in every state of the US. Just as white people don’t paint all blacks for the racist rioting animals that burned buildings down, beat up and killed innocent people.

For all the companies, like Amazon, Netflix, Etsy, etc., who are pandering and openly support the BLM movement, you are condoning the rioting and rioters and the damage and destruction they have done. Your pandering support will not buy you protection from thugs, it will not exonerate your companies from being burned down in a riot. The rioters burned down black owned business in black neighborhoods. If they can do that, you haven’t a chance.

To the Democrats pandering to the BLM and Antifa rioting thugs to rent the black vote in this November. Intelligent people see right through you.

Dear White People

Don’t let these race baiting lies and fake “outrage” to condone the criminal actions of thugs to riot. Please study the crime statistics in this article and stop apologizing for being white. You have nothing to be sorry for and no reason to kneel.

Cancel Culture

This article has been deleted from both Medium.Com and HubPages. HubPage declared the article “Hate Speech”.

What these leftist cancel culturists don’t understand is that calling something hate speech doesn’t make it hate speech. You’re only voicing your opinion, that is a biased opinion, and imposing you biased opinion on others.

This is the opposite of free speech it is called censorship.

...

Reference:

Homicide data by race chart — the math

It wouldn’t be accurate to compare total numbers of homicides without taking into effect the size of the populations. For instance, whites have a total homicide of whites killing whites of 2677. Blacks have a total homicide of blacks killing blacks of 2600. It wouldn’t be fair to say blacks kill just as many of their own race as whites, because the populations are not equal. White population is 249 million, and the Black population is 32 million. To put the numbers into proper perspective, we adjust the numbers to the population.

There is 1 white killed by white for every 93,187 of whites. There is 1 black killed by black for every 12,553 blacks. There is 1 white killed by blacks for every 63,449 blacks. There is 1 black killed by whites for every 1,060,075 whites.

To graph this information in a chart, we divide 1 by the population in each of the above instances. So for white on white homicide it is 1/93187 that equals 1.07E-5. For black on black homicide 1/12553 = 7.96E-5. Black on white is 1/63449 = 1.57E-5 and finally white on black 1/1,060,075 = 0.09E-5

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azuremallone · 4 years

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Defunding Police

And then what?

Well, it means that there’s no one out there to arrest people for murder, DUI, rape, domestic and child abuse, theft, or processing warrants and other crimes. It means that people will have to defend themselves in a lawless environment where the executive branch has no power to enforce the law against criminals -- only law abiding citizens would be subject to the judicial branch. However, if they refuse to comply with the local justices, there’s also no one out there to bring them to justice either.

There’s nothing left to prevent someone from just outright carrying out the law the way they see fit. Gangs will run amok. Narcotics will come flooding in.

You want to see what a defunded police department looks like? Check out Mexico. All of it is defunded. The police there are corrupt as can be. And private security? Who can afford it?

These idiots are basically handing over their rights to the Government and thinking, “Oh hey, no police, no violence! We’ll be safe from the police!” No, they’ll still have state police. State police that only answers to the Governor. A personal militia to become a police state.

See, that’s the thing people don’t think about. The reason there are local police is to handle local laws. They also have jurisdiction ahead of the state police until they hand it over to them or it crosses jurisdictions. Police police each other by making sure that everyone is in communication and that all applicable laws are applied fairly.

There’s no rampant police violence. One bad apple does not taint the whole batch. That logic when applied to people is the equal argument that supports white supremacy in the first place! “One person of <ethnicity> did this, so they’re all bad in my book.” But hey, idiocy and lunacy are about the same thing when people don’t think beyond their emotions.

Mob rule is not the answer. That’s what gets people killed. The Salem witch trials are a pretty good example of that along with the Spanish Inquisition. Then again, no one really learns anything about history other than what they read on Facebook and Twitter or see on CNN anyhow.

#liberal extremism #liberal violence #liberal dementia #liberal agenda #liberal oppression #LOL DEMOCRATS #democrazia #democrats #democratic candidates #this is socialism #anti-socialism #socialism is a mental illness

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chiseler · 5 years

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The Sound of Fury

“America, as a social and political organization, is committed to a cheerful view of life,” Robert Warshow wrote in his seminal 1948 essay “The Gangster as Tragic Hero.” Democracies depend on the conviction that they are making life better and happier for their citizens; only feudal and monarchical societies can enjoy the luxury of fatalism or a fundamentally pessimistic view of life. Praising the gangster genre as a form of modern tragedy, Warshow also accounts for film noir in his statement that, “There always exists a current of opposition, seeking to express by whatever means are available to it that sense of desperation and inevitable failure which optimism itself helps to create.” The gangster’s demise is the purest American tragedy because it is driven by his mania to climb the ladder of success. The end of his saga is inevitable, so in chasing success he is really chasing failure; his self-destructiveness expresses defiance at the inevitability of defeat, but also confirms it.

This underground river of pessimism and disillusionment unites the pre-Code films of the early thirties and postwar film noir; they share a tone of bitter gallows humor; a satisfaction in being wised-up, knowing the score; they flaunt the scars and calluses of lost innocence. Pre-Code movies reflected the free-fall of the Depression, the farce of Prohibition and the dizziness of a society edging towards anarchy. Noir exposed the suppressed anguish of WWII, the anxiety of the Cold War, the stresses of conformity and materialism.

Films like Cry Danger (1951)—recently restored to full glory by the Film Noir Foundation—depict a battered, abraded country that has turned cynicism into a running gag. A man just out of prison after serving five years for something he didn’t do trades sour wisecracks with a one-legged, alcoholic ex-Marine. They make their home in a dilapidated trailer in a scruffy park perched on Bunker Hill, where the proprietor sits around strumming a ukulele and ignoring the busted showers. The vet (Richard Erdman) falls for a pickpocket who steals his wallet whenever he gets drunk. The ex-con (Dick Powell) idealistically tries to vindicate his best friend, who’s still in jail, only to find out he’s a double-crossing liar. The film achieves an extraordinary blend of the glum and the snappy, a deadpan insolence that saturates the air like smog. “What’s five years?” Powell says of his stretch. “You could do that just waiting around.”

While pre-Code movies gleefully portrayed an “age of chiselry,” a country where everyone was looking for an angle, they never plumbed the depths of alienation, fatalism and misanthropy that noir opened up. For all their knowing skepticism, Depression-era films evoke a sense of camaraderie, a shared body heat from people huddled and jostling together—maybe cheating each other, but still sharing jokes and boxcars, Murphy beds and stolen hot-dogs. Noir, by contrast, purveys a chilling sense of isolation and social atomization; not only institutions but individual relationships are corrupt and predatory. There’s no longer a hard-times sense of being all in the same boat. As Kirk Douglas nastily smirks at his colleagues in Ace in the Hole: “I’m in the boat. You’re in the water.”

Noir used unpretentious, low-budget crime thrillers to smuggle this caustic vision into movie theaters during a time when, on the surface, America was at the height of prosperity and social cohesion. Unlike the early-thirties gangster cycle, which reflected a real wave of lawlessness, the crime movies of the fifties were made during a time when the murder rate was lower than in previous or succeeding decades, perhaps as a channel for other, submerged anxieties. Noir’s prophetic vision of disintegrating communities has become only more compelling with time, a development that may explain the passionate revival of interest in film noir in the last decades of the twentieth century.

Healthy, functioning groups don’t exist in noir; even gangs and criminal “organizations” fall apart because their members are out for themselves, ready to betray each other for a payoff or a bigger share of the take. Institutions like politics and business appear only in stories revealing their corruption. The police are the only representatives of government commonly seen, and they are often bullying and crooked, hounding innocent suspects with sadistic relish. Even films that take the side of law enforcement underline hostility between cops and the people they protect. Apart from the justice system, the public sphere does not exist: the town meetings and popular movements that crowd the screen in thirties films, with indignant and excitable citizens marching, rioting or celebrating, are unimaginable in film noir. People seem to exist in a vacuum.

In part, this vision reflects the privatization of life that accelerated in the postwar era, as cars replaced trains; television replaced movie theaters; appliances eliminated the need for servants, milkmen and ice men; suburban back yards took the place of parks, all part of the glorification of the detached home for the “nuclear” family. The homogeneity of the suburbs and the intrusiveness of media and advertising paradoxically diminished any sense of place or community. Meanwhile, Cold War paranoia meant that expressions of communitarian spirit or calls for collective action could rouse suspicions of communist sympathies.

Many of the writers, directors and actors associated with film noir were liberals, often former Communist Party members who had seen the left-wing idealism of the thirties buried by World War II and then vilified during the Cold War. Disillusioned, they used crime movies to indict a culture of rampant greed and cut-throat competition. Thieves’ Highway(1949), the last film directed by Jules Dassin before he left the country to escape the blacklist, slices open the produce business to reveal the rotten heart of capitalism. Even something as pure and nourishing as an apple becomes a poisoned agent of strife when it’s equated with money. A Polish farmer, enraged at being paid less than he was promised for his apples, flings boxes of them off a truck, screaming, “Seventy-five cents! Seventy-five cents!” The apples roll wastefully across the ground, an image foreshadowing the film’s most famous shot, when after the same truck has careened off the road and exploded, apples roll silently down the hillside toward the flaming wreck. When the dead trucker’s partner finds out that money-grubbers have gone out to collect the scattered load to sell, he begins kicking over crates of apples, fuming, “Four bits a box! Four bits a box!” Everyone in the movie is “just trying to make a buck,” and cash haunts the film, dirty crumpled bills changing hands in a series of soiled, coercive transactions.

It is easy to see why the House Un-American Activities Committee wanted to drive people like Dassin out of Hollywood. Films such as Joseph Losey’s The Prowler (another Film Noir Foundation restoration) and Cy Endfield’s The Sound of Fury, (a.k.a Try and Get Me! 1950, the FNF’s next project) are scathing attacks on a materialistic society, unmasking the American dream as a shallow and shabby illusion that breeds crime and shreds the social fabric. (Both directors fled to England in the early fifties to avoid persecution by HUAC.)

Endfield’s stark anti-lynching drama opens with a down-on-his-luck family man hitch-hiking on a dark highway; he tells the trucker who picks him up that he’s been looking in vain for a job. Howard Tyler (Frank Lovejoy) moved his wife and son out to the postwar California suburb of Santa Sierra, hoping for a better life; “I can’t help it if a million other guys had the same idea,” he complains bitterly. They live in a shabby little bungalow behind a wire fence that makes the place look like a miniature P.O.W. camp. Howard’s pregnant wife hates the idea of using a charity clinic, and frets over money owed for groceries, while his whiny little boy begs for money to go the baseball game (“All the other kids are goin’!”) A bartender at a bowling alley sneers at his cheap customer: “You take a beer drinker, you got a jerk.” If Howard weren’t so dejected and humiliated, he would never fall under the spell of Jerry (Lloyd Bridges), the vain braggart he meets at the bowling alley.

Primping and preening, flexing his muscles and showing off his fancy aftershave (“Smells expensive!”), the manic Jerry boasts about his sexual conquests and the big money he makes, and he treats the modest, submissive Howard like his valet. He offers to put him onto something good—“nothing risky”—just driving the car for his hold-ups. When Howard hesitates, Jerry snorts, “You guys kill me! The more you get kicked in the teeth the better you like it.” Their first job is knocking over the grocery store at a cheap motel (“The Rambler’s Rest”), where Jerry easily intimidates an elderly couple and pistol-whips their son. Intoxicated with the easy money—and a few stiff drinks—Howard bursts in on his family with armfuls of groceries. His wife gasps at the extravagance of baked ham and canned peaches, and he brags that now they can get their own TV, and won’t have to go over and watch their neighbors’. “And we’ll throw this piece of junk away!” he crows, pointing to the family’s radio. Soon Howard is buying his wife new shoes and dresses with hot money, telling her he has a night job at a cannery. His little boy sports a cowboy outfit and ambushes his jumpy father with toy guns.

Unsatisfied with these penny-ante crimes, Jerry comes up with a scheme to kidnap a wealthy young man and hold him for ransom. He’s overcome by envy as he fingers the victim’s suit, tailor-made in New York, and after they’ve taken him out to a gravel pit in a disused army base, Jerry panics and kills him. When Howard gets home, dazed with horror and guilt, his wife wakes and tells him about the lovely dream she was having: she had the baby and this time there was no pain at all; “I got right up out of the hospital and took her shopping. I was buying her a pinafore.” Even in her dreams she’s a consumer, subconsciously linking commercial goods with the fantasy of a painless life.

As Howard mentally unravels, the shoddy vulgarity of the culture around him takes on a sinister cast. Jerry shows him the ransom note he’s written in a diner while ordering a steak sandwich (“Cow on a slab!” the waitress yells.) For cover, they go out of town to mail the letter, taking along Jerry’s girlfriend, a glossy blonde, and a lonely manicurist she has dug up for Howard. In a nightclub, he’s subjected to a string of dumb jokes and parlor magic tricks from a burlesque comedian. “Blame my psychiatrist,” the comic quips, “I didn’t pay my bill last month and he’s letting me go crazy.”

From its opening moments, the film depicts the crowd as a mindless and malevolent force, which will eventually be stirred to frenzy by sensationalizing newspaper articles. Crowds in noir are always bloodthirsty mobs, surrounding and destroying strangers in their midst; the communal desire for security is tainted by bigotry and ignorance. This is a dark inversion of Capra’s rallying citizens, or even the all-for-one armies of bums who fight for their squatters’ rights in Wild Boys of the Road. Movies of the Depression era never saw anything wrong with wanting money, good food, a pair of shoes, or even fur coats and diamond bracelets. They are tolerant of people—especially women—who do whatever they have to do get ahead. By contrast, The Sound of Fury shows materialism—the desire to keep up with the neighbors, to make a better life for your family—as a force that corrodes souls and breaks down social decency. The deepest well of pessimism in noir is a distrust of change, desire and ambition. “I just want to be somebody,” people are always saying, but the urge to squeeze more out of life, to grab a chance at happiness, is brutally punished.

Below the surface, the force driving noir stories is the urge to escape: from the past, from the law, from the ordinary, from poverty, from constricting relationships, from the limitations of the self. Noir found its fullest expression in America because the American psyche harbors a passion for independence, an impulse to be, in the words of Walt Whitman, “loosed of limits, and imaginary lines, / Going where I list, my own master, total and absolute.” With this desire for autonomy comes a corresponding fear of loneliness and exile. The more we crave success, the more we dread failure; the more we crave freedom, the more we dread confinement. This is the shadow that spawns all of noir’s shadows: the anxiety imposed by living in a country that elevates opportunity above security; one that instills a compulsion to “make it big,” but offers little sympathy to those who fall short. Film noir is about people who break the rules, pursuing their own interests outside the boundaries of decent society, and about how they are destroyed by society—or by themselves.

The gangster, Robert Warshow wrote, is driven by the need to separate himself from the crowd, but in doing so he isolates and dooms himself. White Heat (1949), which brought James Cagney back to the gangster persona that made him a star, came out one year after the publication of “The Gangster as Tragic Hero.” It took the “man of the city” (as Warshow defined the gangster) out of the city, but Cagney’s explosive death atop an industrial gas tank is the supreme illustration of Warshow’s observation that the gangster’s pursuit of success—“Made it, Ma! Top of the world!”—is a pursuit of death.

White Heat is also a perfect example of what Edward Dimendberg (in Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity) called “centrifugal” noir: it’s a film without a center, about a world flying apart like the cooling fragments of an exploded star. Cagney’s gang, decaying under the strains of resentment, betrayal and madness, moves between equally bleak urban and rural hideouts. After robbing a train in a rocky no-man’s-land, they hole up in a frigid, creaky old farmhouse “a hundred miles from nowhere,” as Cagney’s wife gripes. Cooped up together in this gloomy Gothic house, surrounded by split-rail fences and naked, rolling hills, they snipe at each other and grumble about their leader. Cody Jarrett (James Cagney) suffers debilitating migraine headaches and huddles in the lap of his gaunt, fiercely loyal Ma. The realization that came to Cagney in Public Enemy as he stumbled into the gutter in the rain—“I ain’t so tough”—is here amplified into an infantile weakness, perpetually on the verge of breakdown. Cody’s frailty only makes him more vicious. At his orders the gang leaves a wounded member behind, bandaged and in pain, to freeze to death once they make their move to a motor court in LA. The motel is typical of the “non-places” (in Marc Augé’s term) where noir flourishes: marginal, transient spaces where “people are always, and never, at home.”

The banality of the modern west makes room for Cagney’s majestically psychotic performance, fine-tuned and sensitive as a landmine. Cody Jarrett crumples inward under the crushing pain and then erupts, and White Heat similarly closes in and then shatters people are either cramped in suffocating enclosures (Cody shoots a man while he’s locked in the trunk of a car, cruelly offering to “give him some air”), or stranded in vacant, inhospitable spaces. At the rural hideout, the wind is always blowing bitterly around the house, tossing the trees; Cody walks alone at night, talking to his dead mother, who was shot in the back by his wife while he was in jail. He tells a friend—really a police plant who will betray him—how lonesome he is, because “all I ever had was Ma,” and how hard his mother’s life was, “always on the run, always on the move.” White Heat brings together the ultra-modern—radio tracking devices; drive-in movie theaters—with the pre-modern, even the primitive. It proves not just that film noir can thrive in the country as well as the city, but that noir was not merely a response to the new—industrialization, the bomb, etc.—but drew on deep veins in the American psyche and the American landscape: the desire to stand alone on top of the hill, even if there’s nowhere to go from there but death; and an accompanying fear of being buried “on the lone prairie,” having no one to talk to but the night wind.

by Imogen Sara Smith

#Imogen Sara Smith #The Chiseler #The Sound of Fury #James Cagney #White Heat #Raul Walsh #Noir #In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the Cit #Buster Keaton: The Persistence of Comedy #the criterion collection

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swinging-from-my-cable · 5 years

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Cyberpunk Wild West

Hear me out:

The big cities of the coasts are sprawling metroplexes, creeping into the sky in towers of steel and super-strength plastic. The rich here fritter away the hours with android servants, VR environments, and the best illegal mind altering substances available. A prosthetic is standard, commonplace, only less common than the sensory improvement implants. The world's greatest musicians have cybernetic hands, the painters cyber eyes, the athletic enhanced limbs or even experimental oxygen units in their lungs; children of the elite already enter training to be able to use their future limbs. A select few, old money, make a show out of being "pure", but they have no need to compete, their wealth is older than the fiber cables that power their penthouse suites.

The poorest of the city suffer. The glittering latest models don't reach here, sensory implants knockoffs are cheap. Crime runs rampant and the substances here are cheap with fillers. Back alley clinics will offer the needy prosthetics that were taken from the dead, dying, and people who couldn't pay their debts. Some sell the immunosuppressant you need for the surgery and recovery laced with addictive chemicals to keep you crawling back until they can take your limb or your nose...or your eyes. The law ignores the actions of the wealthy, and instead focuses on those who fight for their mere survival amongst gangs and unemployment.

But away from the light pollution of the city, in the high plains and the dry deserts, the land is nigh lawless. Small towns, many barely more than villages, dot the map; places where a human can stay for the night and get a meal with real tomatoes in the morning. They have their sheriffs and their posses, but the criminals of the land don't sit and make camp. They steal the cattle the city folk pay outrageous sums to eat, and if you're really unlucky, steal your girl too.

The ranchers herd the livestock on hovering craft, their guns shoot light, their lassos neon fiber cable that glows on its own. Even their spurs shine with that electric magic. The implants on the side of their faces, a little outmoded, since they only see the big city doctors once or twice a year, but they work well. They're maintained as well as the shiny revolvers on their hips.

They are hardworking folk, the ranchers of the West. A people out of time, but good people.

#my crazy ideas #cyberpunk

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techcrunchappcom · 3 years

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/analysis-nato-faces-conundrum-as-it-mulls-afghan-pullout-national-news/

Analysis: NATO faces conundrum as it mulls Afghan pullout | National News

ISLAMABAD (AP) — After 20 years of military engagement and billions of dollars spent, NATO and the United States still grapple with the same, seemingly intractable conundrum — how to withdraw troops from Afghanistan without abandoning the country to even more mayhem.

An accelerated U.S. drawdown over the past few months, led by the previous U.S. administration, has signaled what may be in store for long-suffering Afghans.

Violence is spiking and the culprits are, well, everyone: the Taliban, the Islamic State group, warlords, criminal gangs and corrupt government officials.

Currently, 2,500 U.S. and about 10,000 NATO troops are still in Afghanistan. NATO defense ministers will meet on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the way forward.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is reviewing his predecessor’s 2020 deal with the Taliban, which includes a May 1 deadline for a final U.S. troop withdrawal from the war-ravaged country. In Washington, calls are mounting for the U.S. to delay the final exit or renegotiate the deal to allow the presence of a smaller, intelligence-based American force.

All key players needed for a stable post-war Afghanistan come with heavy baggage.

The Taliban now hold sway over half the country and both sides in the conflict have continued to wage war, even after peace talks between the Taliban and the Kabul government began last year in Qatar.

The Taliban have lately been accused of targeted killings of journalists and civic leaders — charges they deny. But they lack credibility, particularly because they refuse to agree to a cease-fire. There is also no proof they have cut ties with al-Qaida militants as required under the Taliban-U.S. deal. A January report by the U.S Treasury found that they continue to cooperate and that al-Qaida is getting stronger.

Some reports from areas under Taliban control speak of heavy-handed enforcement of a strict interpretation of Islamic law: While the Taliban allow girls to go to school, the curriculum for both boys and girls seems mostly focused on religion. There is little evidence of women’s progress in the deeply conservative, rural areas.

Afghan warlords — some accused of war crimes — have been co-opted by international forces since the 2001 collapse of the Taliban regime, amassing power and wealth. In a vacuum that would follow the withdrawal of foreign troops, activists and Afghans fear the heavily armed warlords would return to another round of fighting, similar to the 1992-1996 bloodletting. At that time, the warlords turned their firepower on each other, killing more than 50,000 people, mostly civilians, and destroying much of the capital, Kabul.

Afghan forces have also been accused of heavy-handedness. In January, a new U.N. report said that nearly a third of all detainees held in detention centers across Afghanistan say they have suffered some form of torture or ill-treatment. Corruption is rampant and government promises to tackle it, according to a U.S. watchdog, rarely go beyond paper.

The regional affiliate of the Islamic State group, which in particular targets the country’s minority Shiites, has grown more brazen and violent, its attacks increasing in frequency and audacity, testing a weak security apparatus.

Despite nearly $1 trillion spent in Afghanistan — of which a lion’s share went on security — lawlessness is rampant. According to the U.S. State Department, crime in Kabul is widespread, with criminals typically working in groups and using deadly force. “Local authorities are generally ineffective in deterring crime,” the State Department said. “Officers openly solicit bribery at all levels of local law enforcement. In some cases, officers carry out crimes themselves.”

Economic benchmarks are no better.

The World Bank said the poverty rate rose from 55% in 2019 to 72% in 2020. Two-thirds of Afghans live on less than $1.90 a day. Unemployment rose in 2020 to 37.9%, from 23.9%, the World Bank said last week.

“This is an absolute disgrace given the billions spent on this country over the last two decades,” Saad Mohsini, owner of Afghanistan’s popular TOLO TV, tweeted in response. “Who will stand up and take responsibility?”

Meanwhile, Afghan youth, activists, minorities and women worry that the freedoms they have won since 2001 — while still fragile — will be lost to a Taliban-shared government, and if not to the Taliban, then to warring warlords.

For the U.S. and NATO, the big concern is national security. Both want guarantees that Afghanistan will not again become a safe haven for terrorist groups as it was both during the Taliban era and when warlords ruled.

Among them is Abdur Rasoul Sayyaf, now a key player in Kabul, whose group brought al-Qaida’s Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan from Sudan in May 1996. Sayyaf was the inspiration behind the Philippine terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, another warlord in Kabul, briefly gave bin Laden a safe haven following the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban, who had up to that point sheltered the al-Qaida leader. In 2017, Hekmatyar signed a peace agreement with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and is now a member of the country’s wider peace reconciliation council.

Back in 2012, Human Rights Watch warned NATO that unless it held government forces as well as the Taliban accountable for abuses, the alliance’s “legacy would be a country run by abusive warlords — including the Taliban — and unaccountable security forces,” said Patricia Gossman, associate director for Asia at the New York-based group.

Analysts agree there is no easy solution to Afghanistan’s deteriorating conditions, regardless of whether NATO stays or goes.

“Let’s be very clear: A fragile peace process meant to stabilize the security environment hangs in the balance against the backdrop of a rogue’s gallery of spoilers,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center.

Some say NATO and the U.S. should send a strong message for peace to all sides in Afghanistan’s protracted conflict.

“The U.S. and NATO must be very clear … that they do not wish more war in Afghanistan, that they want a political settlement between the warring parties and that those leaders who shout for more war, on both sides, are no longer good partners with the international community,” said Torek Farhadi, political analyst and former adviser to the Afghan government.

“Absent a political settlement, Afghanistan is headed for a bitter civil war and potentially the country being fractured in the longer run,” he added.

———

Associated Press news director for Afghanistan and Pakistan Kathy Gannon has been covering Afghanistan for The Associated Press since 1988. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Kathygannon

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#afghan #analysis #conundrum #faces #mulls #pullout #National

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abernathywrites · 6 years

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THERE IS NO LAW... NO RESTRAINT... IN THIS SEETHING CAULDRON OF VICE AND DEPRAVITY.

i. map

genre: historical, romance, violence, based off the tv show “godless” setting/time period: 1880s American West pairing: f/f type: 1x1 status: OPEN

ii. setting/backdrop

In the Wild West, a sort of anarchy reigns supreme. People abandon the comfort of home for a perilous journey out west with thoughts of gold and ore spurring them on, and are often met on the road with violence and disorder. The few sheriffs, marshals, and vigilantes who seek to keep the peace are unable to keep up with the violence and debauchery that marks this new and exciting territory of America. Lawlessness runs rampant, and people from all walks of life turn to criminality in their pursuits of fame and riches. For those who do make it out west, hardship and opportunity awaits in equal measure. Towns are built up from tent-cities, and as homes and churches are created so too are saloons and brothels. Copperton is a small development in the heart of Arizona. The town name was shortened from the original name “Copper-town,” and was so-called because of the massive amounts of valuable copper available to be mined. The city swelled with life in the past fifteen years, and was thriving until recently, when the incident occurred. In a freak accident, the copper mine partially collapsed -- and as a result, nearly all the men were killed. Left behind are sons who were too young to work, men who were too old or sick, the town’s drunken sheriff, and all the women. With no aid from the outside world, the women of Copperton have been left to lead the town, and to protect it from the gangs that roam the land.

iii. character descriptions

Character: “A” Age: 30+ Status: Open.

Originally from Missouri, A came out west with her family and friends fifteen years ago. She was a part of the first group to help settle Copperton, and helped to lay down the very foundation of some of the town’s original buildings, which she takes a great deal of pride in. While the men began the mining, A was responsible for much of the town’s overall development, and was very proactive in helping to establish the businesses that helped the town to thrive. As one of the most well-regarded women in town, A married a similarly well-liked man, and settled into life in Copperton. Though she could not profess to love her husband, she did consider him to be a friend. Their marriage worked, and the two were looked on with high esteem in town -- they were sometimes jokingly looked on as the mayor and the first lady. Life in Copperton was hard work, but for A it was worth it to have something that was her own -- something that was made with her blood, sweat, and tears. After the mine shaft collapsed, A’s husband was lost along with most of the town’s men. Despite having never loved the man, the tragedy struck A hard, and she was distraught to find that most of the newly-made widows of Copperton looked to her for guidance. Since the incident, A has become the de facto leader of the town, though it was never her intention to seek explicit power. She has been doing her best in the position, but finds it to be filled with immense stress and strife.

Character: “B” Age: 20+ Status: Open.

Born and raised in New York City to immigrants, B was the middle child of seven children, and lived in poverty. Her earliest memories were colored by sleeplessness and hunger, and she began working in a factory to support her family alongside her elder siblings at the age of 9. She toiled unhappily in this work for several years, and eventually ran away from home when she was thirteen years old. Since that time, she’s floated from place to place, and carried various odd-jobs in order to support herself. B was seventeen when she fell in with sex work -- a choice she made on her own, and one she did shamelessly. The job brought her more money than she’d been able to make before, and with the money came opportunities she’d not had before. Specifically, B was able to hire tutors and to recover the education that had been lost to her as a child. Eventually, B’s line of work earned her a place on a caravan of prostitutes traveling out west. B found herself working in Long Locks, a brothel in the town of Copperton. Her line of work allowed her to become privately well-off in the town, but she continued to live a humble life in order to amass her wealth. Things changed after the mine shaft collapsed, taking most of the town’s men with it. The lack of a customer base led to her employer abandoning the brothel, and most of her employees left with the madam. B remained behind, and opted to take the empty brothel and convert it into a schoolhouse for the children of Copperton. Unlike the other women of the town, B does not necessarily see the death of the men as a tragedy that cannot be moved on from -- she believes Copperton could have a future, just as it is.

iv. plot

Without the men of Copperton, the town has been thrown into a frenzy. What will we do for money? What will we do if bandits come? How will we survive? For all of these questions, they look desperately to A. In an effort to steer the town safely through this process, A has been looking for the answers to their questions. What few men remain seem either incapable or utterly unwilling to provide help: the elderly can only do so much, and their town sheriff is getting on in age and is often too deep in his drinks to do little more than stumble about with a gun in his belt. She is aware that the utter lack of men in the town makes them painfully vulnerable to attacks from gangs. One viable resource has presented itself: the Smith Ventures Company, a mining company that has expressed an interest in buying the mine out from the women of Copperton. In exchange for the purchase, delegates from the company have offered to send a trainload of men to the town, and to alleviate the economic burden that has been placed onto the ladies. After the transaction, the town would hold onto five percent of the mine -- with the other ninety-five belonging to the company. Although it is the best -- and frankly, only -- option that A has been presented with, she hesitates to make the sale. After years of effort in building up Copperton and making it their own, it seems wrong to throw it all away in the face of strife. B, who considers Copperton to be home just as it is, befriends A and offers an alternative: rather than bring in men to save them, they simply save themselves. She suggests that they learn what they need to about the mine, hire outside labor where needed to extract the copper, and run the economy of the town on their own. In regards to gang violence, B’s suggestion is simple: they ought to buy guns, and learn how to shoot them.

v. ending notes & comments.

i liked the show godless, but i felt like it really did the whole bait and switch on the concept -- i wanted it to be about the women of la belle, and i felt like it failed a little in bringing forth that story. thus, this plot!! a story that i would like to be about the LADIES, and their choice to stand up for themselves and prove that they don’t need men to run the town. i think it would also be really interesting to involve the concept of outside threats, like bandits and gangs.

all ages may inquire about writing, 18+ if you’re looking to write anything sexual. fading to black is always cool.

love headcanons! love talking to partners! hope you do too!

i’m always happy to hear feedback on plots. if this interests you but there are certain things you’d like to add or remove, we can talk about it!

i don’t do applications! SEND ME AN IM IF YOU’RE INTERESTED.

if you LIKE this post, i will message YOU!

#myplots

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reddeadreference · 1 year

Text

Saint Denis Times No. 55

-Click here to return to the index for Newspapers-

This issue is available after completion of the mission: Uncle’s Bad Day

(All article transcripts below the cut)

Articles marked with * are exclusive to this region’s issue.

Articles marked with ** are only there upon completion of the related mission.

Bureau of Investigation Founded

SECRET SERVICE VETERANS JOIN STAFF. PROMISE TO ROOT OUT ORGANIZED CRIME.

Unrest in the Tropics

COST OF FOOD, FUEL ANGERS CITIZENS. SUGAR BARONS TO BLAME.

Local groups argue that island residents are suffering the most, while businesses say heavy investments by American financial institutions have allowed for the revitalization of the local economies.

'We Are Helpless'

TOWNS DECRY UNCHECKED VIOLENCE. OUTLAW GANGS RUNNING RAMPANT. LED BY NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL MICAH BELL.

Reverend Swanson Leads NY Church

DELIVERS POWERFUL MESSAGE

Tallulah Jetty Gang Killed

BANK RAIDED IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. CITIZENS FORM POSSE.

Liquor Smuggled Into Indian Territory

DEPUTIES PURSUE OUTLAWS, ONE KILLED.

Bubonic Plague in San Francisco

CITY STILL REELING AFTER EARTHQUAKE THAT KILLED 3,000.

New Railroad Completed

A GRAND PROJECT OUR MANIFEST DESTINY

The Art of Angling by Jeremy Gill

SOCKEYE SALMON.

#rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 newspaper

0 notes

go-redgirl · 5 years

Video

Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace 7/14/19 | Fox News Sunday With Chris ...

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INDIVIDUALS/COMMENTS/POSTS:

Mike Carothers Since when do we get the option to pick and choose the laws we follow. Start locking them all up . PERIOD !

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Brian Malone If you removed the question about race, and replaced it with a question about citizenship, would that be racist?_____________________________________________________________________

AndreL Kellyanne won't let no Wallace bully her!!!! 👍😃

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REPLY Julie Tunis Every one needs to fly old glory high and proud. Show them this is America

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REPLY D Mennis Ok then, tell the Democratic Leadership its a deal felons and criminals deported!

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REPLY jerome hempe Bit by bit they chew away at the Constitution. That is NOT what we hired them to do.

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REPLY hempe Pelosi as house leader again? Never happen!

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REPLY Mark Ford Deport them all!!!!

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REPLY Karen Larason They can leave and go home any time,,,,, so no pity they were uninvited

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REPLY BuckeyeColo If I start housing 100 additional people in my home, it would be a disaster, as well.

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REPLY Daniel Garnett

Chris Wallace is a sniveling worm.

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REPLY Best Ofthebest I think its all a giant false flag. Everyday there is a new scandal.. what are they doing that we dont know about?

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REPLY Frank YOU FEED THEM CRIS WALLACE !!!!!

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REPLY Norma Atara Trump 2020 form America President

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Eddie Monger The squad voted no for giving money for the very kids they cried about!

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REPLY Patricia Love Chris Wallace is a liar and a distorter of the news the truth

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REPLY PugZ Designs Chris Wallace sucks and should be on CNN!!!

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REPLY Will Susha

Lujan, a democrat leader, immediately went to the race card when he heard Trump say these leaders should go back to where they come from and fix their countries. I don’t see anything racist with it. These know it all‘s, do nothing politicians should try to do something where they’re from. Maybe we wouldn’t have the problems we do now with those countries.

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Lynda Mackrous What did Congress promised the illegals.Hey sweet at Trump Tower three-course meals is that why they came and invaded the country just asking what were their expectations what were they told and who told them what

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REPLY Paul Rochner We have enough criminals in Washington, Don't need more from Mexico.

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Eddie Monger Juan, Pelosi said Trump want to make America white again...lol!

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REPLY Bobbi Holcomb Why is an illegal give birth in our country given their child automatic citizenship. The loophole fixed would take care of separation problems. Check out other countries.

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REPLY Maggie Johnson research the crime rate, tax rates, public corruption in new Mexico. Failed education system and courts that allow criminals to run rampant in new Mexico caused me to walk away from this failed state! He needs to focus on his own state and quit acting like he has the answers!

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REPLY Lynda Mackrous What does Taxi vision have to do with the Russian conspiracy plot

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REPLY Eddie Monger Ben Ray body language make him look so insincere!

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REPLY arsenic milkshake wallace is such a subversive jewish goober

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REPLY Brian Malone Referring to yourself as a person of color is racist. If Trump said that people of color should go back to their countries, that would be racist, but he didn't .

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REPLY Sally Sheldon People encouraging People to Lie and be Deceitful to issue of Border Crossing illegally are therefore, LAWLESS or LAWBREAKERS! Just like people speeding over 55 miles per hour it gets you a SPEEDING TICKET! Obey the Law!

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Samantha Souza Conway shouldn't mention Comb overs with the Boss she has 🙄

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REPLY Jeffrey Peck Hello people. It’s been very obvious that the Illegal Invaders Are Not Just Going To leave on their own. They need help. Like what ice is doing. Its called Force.

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REPLY Terry Hough Why does he never ask a follow up question? They don't actually answer just give talking points and then next question next talking point,, No follow up to get the truth

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eugene Uhls Wallace iisa complete socialist so why is he denigrating America

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REPLY AndreL YOU break the law: YOU are the one who instilled fear in YOUR family, Mr. Lujan!!!

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REPLY Penny Krier Law is the law!!

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REPLY orange tabby Get rid of Wallace he is useless

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REPLY Bleach Bit "The Squat Squad"... they HATE America to the core! Question: If things are so bad in Ameria, what's stopping them from moving to some other country? Answer: ... other countries don't want these 4 bums!!

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REPLY Susanne Fiore I just have to say this about separating children from parents.... If I break the law, and I have to go to jail,,, my children don't go with me, how come the Dems constantly pound the drum about separation???? These people, no matter how nice they are,, they are coming here illegally,, trying to sneak in, the consequences you risk facing at some point, is losing your freedom and separation from your children.

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Ramon Perez How they turn things around basically he's saying go back and fix your own cities and states if you can't fix your own City and State's how you going to fix the country

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RamHyderabadi Just unbelievable how several people are brain washed to believe it is OK to break the law. It does not matter which party you belong, illegal is Illegal period. When did Illegal become good? Sane people in this country must come together and support deportation and protect borders.

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Eddie Monger What part of overcrowding is no one hearing!

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E B And Chris Wallace could have added , but it is your party that has voted down the bills to help provide more money to help these people. But of course he just says thank you very much will talk to you again. and of course says nothing about how they vote.

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Imur Huckleberry #GETOUT!!

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M998 ITS LIES ALL LIES... The ETIRE demoRAT Party is one Big LIE...The AMERICAN People do NOT Deserve This BETRAYAL.

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REPLY Julia Saba

You are a liar and I'm a Spanish Wam

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Whicket Williams this whole program is an attack on America

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REPLY Lynda Mackrous Democrats will never solve the problem using the same thinking that created them they had to move over and get you thinking. Democrats will never solve the problem using the same thinking that creating them they had to move over and get you thinkingI think Trump has a new thinking to solve the immigration problem

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REPLY Lynda Mackrous It’s not a racist thing why does he call it racist I agree they should go back home and fight for their homeland obviously United States is not their homeland it is the ancestors homeland

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REPLY M998 Chris Wallace is a Communist B^TCH.. He Interrupts when he Starts Hearing the TRUTH and doesn't get the answer he wants.

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REPLY Nelson S Iam very disappointed in the following up with the question about family being sought out by ice people with felony don't have family that will be disrupted an scared an they came to the boards from a journey walking camping an think about the conditions of that for months what are you talking about an what kind of reporter are you an do you have common sense

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REPLY Rober Coto Demon-crat, just want to change the law in favor of there party, to try to win ,with iligal immigrants for power money and votes the house, it's a simple Q? Are you , or are you not a citizen of the US. Vote Trump and thank you ice, this dude does not let her speak so rude and not a gentelman,

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REPLY Andrea Neibler Blaming Trump for decisions you make based on comments he makes is as ridiculous as when your parents would say "if your friends tell you to jump off a bridge, are you going to do that too?" You are a member of Congress. You should be taking a serious look at the situation and making ADULT decisions based on the facts before you. If you can't do that, you shouldn't be in Congress. That being said, what does that tell you about our Congress?? They CAN'T make adult decisions!!

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REPLY skipjack johnson I love lamp

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REPLY Lynda Mackrous The question is why can’t Parent take their children with them what stops him who stops that Trump is in separating the families the family separated the family they did it when they came across illegally

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REPLY Teresa Alaniz If these folks have crossed the border illegally,,,, then they are criminals and should be dealt with according to law. I'm a US citizen and I have to obey the laws or go to jail. The law is for every one, rich, poor, black, white, green, yellow, Hispanic, Asian or anyone else. You Demons must be taking some stupid pills!!!

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REPLY Jay Thomas Uhhh... Chris are they getting fed every day? Uhhh Chris if we let them out would they return home from being so ill treated. Uhhh Chris did they not label it a crisis months ago? Uhhh Chris if you weren't asking stupid questions you might get an answer. 🤔🤔😒😒😒

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REPLY Julia Saba Thank you kellyana for put Chris in his place idont like him he belong in Cnn

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REPLY Karen Larason there is a all out war for this country, and flooding us with illegals is a big part of it ,,,, bye bye miss American pie and dems are leading the band

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REPLY Lynda Mackrous Here is my worst left the pinion.They are here illegally their children born in the country families don’t need to be separated the parents can go to their home country and bring their kids with them this way the family stays together if parents are from a foreign country in the USA their children can go to their parents home country -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

0 notes

shirlleycoyle · 5 years

Text

Pirates, Stowaways, Vigilantes: ‘The Outlaw Ocean’ Humanizes Crime on the High Seas

Ian Urbina, an investigative journalist with the New York Times, has spent the better part of the past five years out on the open ocean, what he calls the “last untamed frontier.”

In his aptly-titled new book, The Outlaw Ocean, Urbina recounts how he spent time with criminals of every stripe, got battered by extreme storms, and confronted horrifying human rights crises. Given the larger-than-life events he faced, it’s no wonder that when Urbina talks about the ocean his language is out of this world. The people out there are “otherworldly” and “extraterrestrial;” going out to sea is “space travel on Earth.”

In 2014, Urbina began a multi-part series in the Times, chronicling a world in which the laws that protect people and the environment don’t hold much water. After two years of telling these stories in print, he realized that he wasn’t finished and set out for another stint of reporting, sometimes spending weeks or months at a time at sea. The stories in The Outlaw Ocean reflect all of this time on the water.

In the book’s first story, Sea Shepherd, the radical environmental group promoting direct action on the seas, chases down a boat (the Thunder) that was engaged in illegal fishing. This sets the tone for the book, in which laws are ill-enforced and regularly broken by people at sea.

“One thing that helped me was to think of this place as ‘outlaw,’ not illegal,” Urbina said. “That doesn’t frame it on an ethical spectrum, you’re just looking at it from the outside.”

On the open water, societal problems are magnified or distorted, and the solutions to them are equally complex. The stories in The Outlaw Ocean expose hidden realities both “above and below the water line,” Urbina said. These include tales of volunteer doctors providing abortions where they are illegal, stowaways set adrift and left to die at sea, and ships dumping waste straight into the ocean.

On land, it can be easy to feel removed from this seemingly lawless world, but our lives are intimately connected to it. Ships carry 90% of the goods we consume globally. Besides that, a staggering 56 million people globally work at sea on fishing boats, according to The Outlaw Ocean. Much of the fish we eat would not be reach us without illegal fishing, a challenge that markets, governments, and organizations have largely failed to correct.

Often, the disparate world of maritime crime—from piracy, to illegal fishing, to the rampant sea slavery in the South China Sea—escapes much of our notice. That’s partly because no one is telling those stories, Urbina said.

Most, if any, news coverage of seafaring events is done from land, and is necessarily removed from the lives of those living semi-permanently on these ships. Being out at sea allowed Urbina step out of the rules of terrestrial life, spending time on ships with people most of us would run from: slavers, gunrunners, and murderers.

In doing so, he harkened back to his academic training. He was in graduate school for anthropology when he when he took a break to work as a deckhand on a ship, where he got his first real taste of sea life.

“That’s where I first caught the bug, and it was the people more than the place that did it,” Urbina said. “There was this diaspora, transient, invisible tribe that is in some ways the ultimate metaphor for globalization.”

Urbina never finished his dissertation, but he kept a critical academic eye. In The Outlaw Ocean, Urbina focuses that eye on understanding his characters and their context to show why these crimes get committed and why the culprits rarely get prosecuted. Urbina goes further than most to do this. He shows you a problem from the front lines, by talking to the people there.

He stops short, though, of proposing any one solution to the myriad issues at play on the water—that would be a fool’s errand. The solutions to a network of global, unreported, and unpunished crimes are as varied as the problems themselves; removing plastic waste from the ocean looks very different from curbing the mistreatment of stowaways, for example.

Of course, there are a lot of people trying to solve these crises, and Urbina said that governments and markets can do a lot more to combat them. The real focus of The Outlaw Ocean, though, is the “invisible people” of the seas, as Urbina calls his book’s subjects. His “extraterrestrial” characters—grizzled ship captains, radical vigilantes, stowaways left to die at sea, brutal pirates—are incredibly down-to-earth.

“They have their own language, hierarchy, code of ethics, and diversity of crimes,” Urbina said. “They have a huge role to play, but most of us have no clue of their existence.”

Pirates, Stowaways, Vigilantes: ‘The Outlaw Ocean’ Humanizes Crime on the High Seas syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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cryptswahili · 5 years

Text

Beyond Crypto — Blockchain Ethics

Photo by Virgil Cayasa on Unsplash

Beyond Crypto — Blockchain Ethics

It’s easy to keep ethics away from a topic that is hard to understand

It might be a widely known fact, but I was definitely shocked to learn that the inventor(s) of bitcoin is (are) anonymous. Was a hidden identity meant to act as a metaphor for blockchain’s online anonymity? Or was it a way to hide from blame for unleashing a system into the world that holds enough power to eventually rule global currency, with no centralized entity to regulate it?

I don’t have an answer to that question. I don’t think blockchain ethics has been discussed enough for us to know yet. Honestly, I think that no one is talking about this because blockchain is such a complex topic that most people struggle to even understand how it works.

A few months ago, I too had no idea what crypto, blockchain, or bitcoin even were. This is why I wanted to try to make the inner-workings of blockchain more accessible for the ordinary, non-technical individual in an attempt to start an open dialogue. For those who have always wanted to understand the higher level, beautiful concepts of this crazy technology, or discuss the darker sides that unfortunately get ignored, here you will find it all.

Welcome to the world of Blockchain.

What Is It?

Since the White Paper, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System was written under the alias name Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, ‘blockchain’ has become an inescapable buzzword. With nearly 15% of the world’s financial institutions using blockchain, it is clear that the technology is quickly materializing into society. Though blockchain technology can fuel more than just cryptocurrencies (see cryptokitties), it is most famously known for running bitcoin.

At its roots, blockchain is an entirely decentralized, non-governed transactional system. It is run through many nodes that all together, result in a blockchain network. Each network contains a ledger. This ledger acts as the source of truth; it stores all of the transactions that have ever happened on the network. Similar to how a bank will store a user’s withdrawal and deposit transactions, a blockchain ledger will store every transaction that has occurred on a network. The ledger is publicly available to all of the nodes in the network.

Bitcoin miners can run their own nodes (computer hardware) in hopes of obtaining a bitcoin through the combination of processing power and a little bit of luck. The difference between a bank’s ledger and a blockchain ledger is that a bank can make changes to their ledger at any point in time, since they hold all of the power. A blockchain ledger on the other hand doesn’t belong to any central entity. It is accessible and owned by every node in the network, and is entirely immutable.

Without a central governing entity over a network, every transaction needs to be verified by a majority of the nodes. Transactions can include transferring cryptocurrency between two people, reversing old transactions, spending coins, and even blocking miners from using their own nodes. For example, if someone wanted to transfer their bitcoins to someone else, they would need their transaction to be verified by at least half of all the nodes in a network.

It’s easy to see why a system like this can be so powerful.

The Good

The most obvious benefit of cryptocurrency is that it offers greater ease and autonomy for financial transactions. Without a third party governing monetary exchanges, cryptocurrencies allow people to send money to others, especially in other countries, with more privacy and ease than ever before.

Even further, in a country where the currency is hurting it’s people (see how the Euro is hurting Greece), an unregulated form of currency could actually prove to be quite beneficial for the economy. No centralization and no government intervention on cryptocurrency means that control over the currency could be entirely up to a network of regular citizens. In this aspect, cryptocurrency is a libertarians dream.

Thinking beyond currency, humans could even begin to use blockchain as a tool for an entirely decentralized online world. Blockchain is already being used for decentralized cloud storage. In the future, we may no longer need to blindly follow large tech companies and their rules/regulations because the internet could become a blockchain net. There have even been discussions about blockchain becoming the beacon of light we’ve been looking for to store the minute, sensitive data of our personal identities.

At this point, it’s clear that cryptocurrency (and really all of blockchain) has the potential to place power over the digital world into the hands of the common person and away from oppressive corporations or governments.

What could go wrong?

The Not So Good

51% Attacks and Double Spending

As I mentioned before, blockchains are just nodes (people’s computers) working together to create a network. One of the beauties of these nodes is that their owners are anonymous. Unfortunately…. this anonymity can also be incredibly detrimental. A 51% attack is when one person or entity gains control of a majority (hence the name fifty one percent) of a blockchain network.

One of the worst case scenarios of a 51% attack is double spending, when a unit of digital currency is spent twice. This would equate to someone buying their groceries at the store with a $20 US bill, then using their newfound power over the US currency to state that they are allowed to use that same $20 bill to buy whatever they want again.

Theoretically, this can happen within any blockchain network as long as the defined majority of the nodes approve of the transaction. 51% attacks often result in an attempt to double-spend, because the ‘illegal’ transaction can easily gain a majority approval (since the majority belongs to the person attempting to make the ‘illegal’ transaction).

I’m using quotes around ‘illegal’ as a reminder that illegality doesn’t really exist for a lawless, ungoverned entity.

Last year a 51% attack on ZenCash caused $550,000 to be double-spent. An attack on Bitcoin Gold lost $18 Million. Actually, 2018 was one of the worst blockchain attack years in history. These attacks are a double edged sword, because as the public becomes informed of an attack, the targeted cryptocurrency becomes mentally devalued.

This is an important concept because it highlights the fact that cryptocurrencies are only as valuable as humans believe them to be. (For more on this topic, I highly recommend reading the amazing Yuval Noah Harari’s thoughts on how currency, just like religion, only works through mutual trust).

But Blockchain Breeds Credibility

The benefits of mental devaluation extend even further than hindering 51% attacks. The subjective monetary value of cryptocurrencies make blockchain technology less prone to corruption, because it runs on credibility. As I said earlier, a bank can make any changes to its own ledger or be at risk for hacked changes to its ledger without any of the bank’s users becoming aware.

In the case of blockchain, humans only value cryptocurrency if they trust that the transactions are true.

“Blockchain provided the answer to digital trust because it records important information in a public space and doesn’t allow anyone to remove it. It’s transparent, time-stamped and decentralized.” — Bernard Marr

Since blockchains publicly share all transactions with the nodes in the network, transparency breeds credibility; which directly gives cryptocurrencies their monetary value. Corruption is disincentivized in a decentralized network.

An Ungoverned System Breeds Misuse

While it is very good that the concept of blockchain hinders corruption, there are some more important ethical concerns accompanying this technology that I can’t leave unaddressed.

The majority of these concerns stem from the fact that no one governs the networks. In the same way that the value of stocks change the more they are traded, as more units of cryptocurrency are traded, the value of that cryptocurrency increases.

It is possible that Bitcoin’s early price increases (early trades) were almost exclusively guided by criminal activity.

Since every transaction in a network is anonymous and cryptocurrency isn’t governed by anyone, blockchain has become infamous for aiding in money laundering, selling weapons or drugs, and other traditionally black-market-aided transactions. Many have become aware of the need for the potential governing of blockchain networks, but the inherent distributed nature of the system disallows any centralized regulation.

Why not just try to regulate it then?

If only it were that easy. Even if blockchain tech was modified to allow for centralized regulation… there would still be problems. If all countries have different approaches to titles, ownership, contracts, and transactions, how can a unified set of rules or laws be brought to fruition? If any disputes over previous transactions are made, who is the governing entity responsible for resolving this conflict? Since blockchains are immutable, how would societies handle a blockchain that adheres to modern regulations but fails to comply to unknown future regulations?

What Should We Do?

At this point in time, blockchain has the potential to go in two, very opposing directions. The subjective credibility of networks could lead to an ethical, decentralized and trustworthy platform capable of unifying privatized global currency, allowing humanity to have access to a safe and private digital identity, and placing the power of the internet into the hands of the people.

Or, the immutable nature of networks and the lack of governability could lead to rampant misuse and systemic vulnerability.

This is why I asked earlier if Satoshi Nakamoto chose to stay anonymous as a statement or from fear of taking the blame for unleashing such an unwieldy peace of technology at the world.

The truth is, now that blockchain is out there is no stopping it. So, what now?

I didn’t want to write this article to diminish the benefits of blockchain. Nor did I want to ignore the hard truth about some of the darker sides of this technology. As usual, I just want to raise awareness on this topic.

In my opinion, the best solutions to problems come from communities of educated people. Hopefully my words can act as a beacon of understanding for those who have felt left out of the conversation. For those who were already in the loop, maybe these thoughts have sparked some motivation. Either way, it’s time for us to get moving. Guided by education and awareness, let’s work together to utilize blockchain for its amazing potential, while fixing some of the unintended consequences of rapid innovation.

Beyond Crypto — Blockchain Ethics was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

[Telegram Channel | Original Article ]

#cryptocurrency

0 notes

deborahdeshoftim5779 · 6 years

Text

CMAJ’s Condemnation of Cannabis: Too Little, Too Late

I greatly appreciate Diane Kelsall’s (MD, MEd) article for CMAJ, the Canadian Medical Journal on 15/10/2018, two days before the Canadian government passed Bill C-45, legalising cannabis.

You can read the full article here.

Unfortunately, Kelsall’s warning suffers from what I called good-hearted optimism in my response to this shameful legislation, found here (Part II), and here (Part I). Whilst stating the harms of cannabis usage, and calling on the government to take account of the consequences, she makes many suggestions that, whether directly or indirectly, fail to acknowledge the real problem at hand.

I don’t blame Diane Kelsall. As an academic who actually shows a commitment to spreading information, rather than doing the legwork of corporations and pseudo-intellectual “activists”, she has performed her duty in warning people about the dangers of cannabis. I don’t know anything about CMAJ’s readership, but I suppose that the Canadian’s jumping for joy around an effigy of this disgusting substance are unaware of the harm they will inflict upon themselves and others as they gleefully feed their cravings.

Unlike many academics, she does not deceive people with dubious statistical claims based on parameters that shift with public opinion, or reinvent the words “harm” and “safe” to now mean any substance that isn’t quite as dangerous as tobacco, or insist that drug abusers are victims of anyone who disagrees with their lifestyle. Instead, she declares this legislation for what it is: an experiment (admitted by the NYT) that the government ought to change should the consequences backfire.

And here is where Diane either can’t or fails to acknowledge: they will backfire.

“On Oct. 17, 2018, the government of Canada will launch a national, uncontrolled experiment in which the profits of cannabis producers and tax revenues are squarely pitched against the health of Canadians.”

I could not have said it better myself. The campaign to legalise cannabis has appropriated the language of rights and justice in order to camouflage its shared roots with the tobacco, alcohol, and prescription drug industry. Profit is their only god.

Given the known and unknown health hazards of cannabis,2,3 any increase in use of recreational cannabis after legalization, whether by adults or youth, should be viewed as a failure of this legislation. The government of Canada should commit to amending the act if cannabis use rises.

Later on, Kelsall will rightly state that federal legalisation of cannabis already suggests approval. How can she then surmise on the possible increase in usage? Already, 4.9 million Canadians have used this drug, according to the New York Times, flagrantly and selfishly defying the law and the medical evidence she cites that shows not just discovered harms, but as yet unknown harms.

Does Kelsall believe that the government could reduce usage of cannabis by making it available for sale all across the country? Has this worked for smoking tobacco, the misuse of alcohol, and the ubiquitous prescription of pharmaceutical drugs? I do not have nearly as much evidence as Kelsall, but I would like answers.

More importantly, Kelsall wants the government to amend the act if usage rises. But the damage will already have been done. Legalising cannabis in the first place is the lynch-pin that secures corporate profit margins and encourages aggressive resistance to any subsequent, buyer’s remorse laws designed to curb access.

This is why making a substance illegal works, contrary to what you hear from academics, activists, and the smug billionaires who can buy themselves out of a prison sentence. Though they noisily insist that the law is useless, that people will just do it anyway, they would not agitate for change if they really considered the law a joke.

Whilst cannabis was illegal, corporations could not make the substantial sums of money now assured to them, and millions of people risked arrest, fines, and imprisonment for breaking the law. They knew that the law did not approve of their actions and so sought to conceal their crimes, whilst burdening the health services- not to mention their family, friends, and innocent bystanders-- with the consequences. Indeed, the stigma against cannabis users as being a threat to civil society through their impaired mental faculties helped solidify opposition to the drug.

Making something illegal enforces almost universal disapproval. It means that people must go out of their way to seek criminal dealers, rather than easily run to the shop. This puts them to great inconvenience and great cost, all of which would go down the drain should they be caught by the police.

Threatening people with imprisonment is a powerful deterrent if taken seriously. Remove all of this, and the government becomes toothless.

Predictably, given the federal government’s stated commitment to pushing this legislation through, investment in cannabis firms has risen substantially over the past year in anticipation, and new producers, large and small, have been popping up across the country.

No coincidence there. I speculated that this might have been the case in my first reaction to the news, and now I am vindicated.

Their goal is profit, and profit comes from sales — sales of a drug that, according to Health Canada, will cause a problem in nearly 1 in 3 adult users and an addiction in close to 1 in 10, with higher risks in youth.2

Oh, please don’t bore the govermment with details about the harm to youth, since we know that self-indulgence is a sacred right threatened by tyrannical police officers.

These statistics should have alarmed anyone genuinely committed to public safety and public health, but does not. Again, it should not take statistics for people to recognise the evident dangers of cannabis usage, since those who have had the misfortune of encountering such users can testify to the deleterious effect this drug produces. The effect on youth again is self-evident, since they are growing and developing, and thus do not need encouragement to reckless behaviour that will have ruinous consequences during adulthood.

We cannot expect cannabis firms to restrict their growth ambitions or to have use reduction as a goal.

Which is precisely why cannabis should have remained illegal.

It is too late.

The whole point of keeping cannabis illegal is: 1)- recognition that its harms outweigh its use (harms which have not yet been fully identified), 2)- recognition that its harms threaten law and order, such as impaired driving due to cannabis usage (cited by Kelsall), 3)- recognition that its use can lead to the use of more dangerous substances.

The punishment of fines and imprisonment create a solid deterrent to those with enough respect for the law and society, and a hard lesson for those who did not heed these warnings. Punishing drug users makes sense, contrary to what “activists” claim, because they fuel the drug trading. No one can sell what people can’t buy. By all means, throw the drug dealers in prison, too, but alongside those who went out of their way to break the law.

Cannabis companies may initially focus on attracting current consumers from black-market sources, but eventually, to maintain or increase profits, new markets will be developed as is consistent with the usual behaviour of a for-profit company.4 Marketing efforts may include encouraging current users to increase their use or enticing a younger demographic.

And here we find yet another fallacy behind pro-cannabis “activism”. The soothsayers for this lobby profess to save users from the black market, but they merely by shuttling said users from one market to another: the same one, just with federal approval. So they, like the cannabis companies, do not have use reduction as a goal, although they brandish “harm reduction” as one of their stated objectives. Arguing for legal usage is arguing for more usage, otherwise the entire exercise becomes self-defeating.

The track record for tobacco producers has not been encouraging in this regard, and it is unlikely that cannabis producers will behave differently.

They are one and the same.

Although the act prohibits promotion to young people and marketing may not evoke a way of life that includes “glamour, recreation, excitement, vitality, risk or daring,” among other restrictions,1 there is plenty of leeway for cannabis companies to attract users.

Meaning, those restrictions and prohibitions aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.

And the decision by the federal government to legalize cannabis sends a clear message to Canadians that its use is acceptable.

Which was the entire point of legalisation in the first place, meaning all the legal jargon is just a smoke-screen, that the government endorses advertising and free purchasing, and that tax revenues are, as Kelsall said earlier, more important than public health.

This past summer, cannabis companies were promoting their wares at music festivals and similar venues to ensure brand-awareness ahead of the legislation.5 Even the food and beverage industry is joining in with plans to augment their products with cannabis.

This comes as no coincidence. Cannabis is the religious cause of the music industry, where it is associated with freedom and rebellion against society. It is as sacred as the alleged right to sexual recklessness, and in many cases, symbiotically linked to the latter. No wonder drug usage is so rampant at music festivals.

Here in Britain, the toothless police force have now offloaded all responsibility for punishing drug users onto the festival organisers, who now offer “drug-testing” services. In other words, allowing their attendees to engage in dangerous, lawless, and foolish behaviour with the reassurance that someone will confidentially test how dangerously, lawlessly, and foolishly they have behaved afterwards at no cost and with no consequences. Such backwards logic surely threatens those innocent people who can attend music festivals without breaking the law, and who have to suffer with the consequences of the drug-addled lawlessness and violence that inevitably results.

And why should we be surprised that the food and drinks industry has also hopped onto the cash train, when cannabis is known to spark pangs of hunger after usage?

Bill C-45 explicitly states that its purpose is to protect public health and safety, by keeping cannabis out of the hands of youth and enhancing public awareness of health risks associated with cannabis use.1 To achieve this will require a concerted effort by government at all levels.

Bill C-45 might as well state that its purpose is to make the sun rise in the morning and set at night. Actions speak louder than words. The Canadian government has done its level best to render policing and law, not to mention reason itself, toothless. All the concerted effort in the world will not reverse what has already been encouraged and enshrined in law. To do so, the government would be riding against the tsunami that it created, and it will invarably lose. Had cannabis remained illegal, the government would have had a stronger footing to campaign against the drug, highlight its harms, and so justify punishment for anyone who used it. Now, they do not even attempt to please all the people all the time. Only one side is right: the side of self-indulgence and stupefaction. Any professed concern for protecting public health is hilarity.

Many local and provincial governments have put regulations in place to restrict the use and distribution of cannabis, beyond the broad provisions in the federal legislation. And health authorities are working on campaigns to raise awareness of health and other risks, such as impaired driving, associated with cannabis use.

We shall see whether police officers who arrest dopey drivers are accused of persecution, just as they were when they enforced the laws against cannabis. Indeed, I wonder how the police will enforce the remaining drug laws in light of this shameful legislation.

But fundamentally, the federal government needs to take responsibility for the consequences of this controversial legislation.

It will not do so-- or if it does, it won’t be until after the ugly consequences show themselves. When was the last time the government freely took responsibility for something?

To that end, it must provide adequate funding for robust monitoring of cannabis use among all segments of society, especially among youth and other populations at particular risk. The anticipated windfall of tax revenue should fund research on harms related to use, as there are many unanswered questions about the short- and long-term implications of cannabis use.3

Again, Kelsall simply makes futile suggestions.

What is the point of assessing the consequences when you have encouraged, sponsored, and rubber-stamped them? And the suggestion of using tax revenue from selling cannabis to assess the harms of cannabis borders on hilarious. The government had plenty of money beforehand with which to achieve this end. Why did it not do so? Because the government wished the drug were legal, and has now, after a fictional “debate”, achieved this.

Would researching harm not undermine the government’s direct objective of undermining the rule of law, public health, and reason for the sake of self-indulgence and stupefaction? Is it in the government’s interest to publicise damning links between cannabis and longterm harm whilst cosying up to corporations who have successfully deceived a gullible and greedy public into believing they’re safe, happy, and free?

And finally, if use of cannabis increases, the federal government should have the courage to admit the legislation is flawed and amend the act. Canadians — and the world — will be watching.

Amend? How about, abolish-- that is, in the event that the government does grow a backbone and confess to this grievious error in judgement at the expense of millions? Kelsall well knows, and barely disguises her dismay that Canada would yield to the cannabis lobby. Whilst she does not know all the harms associated with cannabis usage and would be remiss to speculate too far, she must surely also recognise that the forces who oppose her will not yield as much as she might hope. Legalisation is the key. If it were not, then activism would be pointless. It is far easier to legalise than to make something illegal, which is why legalisation should come after reasoned, rigorous, and hesitant debate. Instead, Canadians have wilted under a slick campaign full of half-truths, distortions, outright lies, concealment, manipulation, and nepotism.

Kelsall is right to be alarmed.

But her suggestions are simply too little, too late.

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